47 - My Bitter Lack of Skills

I was having dinner with Rei and her mom a few weeks ago, when--as usual--I made some dumb mistakes.

One joy of getting better at a foreign language is that you start hearing yourself make mistakes. In other words, your mouth gets faster than your brain, and you start sounding... uh... not smart and stuff.

So we were talking about わさび (wasabi), because wasabi is delicious. And I was trying to say that "I like wasabi, but I can't handle a lot of it."

I said:

❌ わさび好きだけど苦手なんだ。
wasabi suki da kedo nigate nanda
I like wasabi, but I'm not good at wasabi.
(Literally: "wasabi + liking + is + but + not good + なんだ.")

...huh?

Rei's mom instantly furrowed her brows, then gave me a look like I was speaking in caveman riddles or something.

I knew I hadn't said what I wanted to say correctly--and was stumbling over an ugly mush of Japanese words in my brain--when Rei looked at me and said:

苦手じゃなくて弱いでしょ?
nigate ja nakute yowai desho?
You mean "yowai," not "nigate," right?
(Literally: "not good + [is] not + weak + right?")
(Note: This short でしょ? [NOT でしょう?] gives off the nuance that she expects me to know this, or assumes that I know it.)

⭕️ わさび好きだけど弱いんだ
⭕️ wasabi suki da kedo yowai n da.
⭕️ I like wasabi, but I have a low tolerance to it.
(Literally: "wasabi + like + is + but + weak + ん + is.")

The problem is that if I said わさびが苦手 (wasabi nigate), it means "I'm not a big fan of wasabi" (we'll look at this again later in this lesson).

If I want to say, instead, that my nostrils are especially vulnerable to wasabi's death-jabs (that I have a low wasabi tolerance), then I should say わさびに弱い (wasabi ni yowai).

You can say the same thing for alcohol.

A: お酒好き?
osake suki?
Do you like drinking?
(Literally: "alcohol + liking?")

B: 好きだけど弱いんだ。
suki da kedo, yowai n da.
I like it, but I'm a lightweight.
(Literally: "liking + is + but + weak + ん + is.")

Or, conversely:

お酒強い?
osake tsuyoi?
Can you drink a lot?
(Literally: "alcohol + strong?")

Let's get back to this 苦手 (nigate; literally, "bitter + hand") meaning... "a weak point; something one is not good at."

This is one of my favorite expressions.

Instead of saying you don't like something, you're saying that you're "not good with it." We do this in English, too, right? For example, I'm not good at dealing with her. Or I'm terrible at saying goodbye. We actually mean that we don't like it, don't we?

The somewhat softer phrasing strikes me as so Japanese.

Just the other day, for instance, my editor and I were dealing with a particularly troublesome client. Said client was asking us to rewrite some materials we'd produced--which, you know, is fine. Part of the job.

But the way this client phrased his requests was, to put it mildly, tactless, abrasive, and rude.

My editor, then, being the nice, polite, well-spoken expert of Japanese that he is, said (to me)...

僕、失礼な人を相手にしているのがとても苦手なんだ(^^;
boku, shitsurei na hito wo aite ni shiteiru no ga totemo nigate nan da.
I'm just not at all good at dealing with rude people.
(Literally: "I, + rude + person + を + partner + に + doing/making + のが + not good [at] + なん + is.")

(Note: That might be a bit long and difficult. A weird, semi-literal translation might have been, "My weak point is partnering up with rude people.")

This nice, clean sentence reminds me of my Japanese class back in the day...


The Classic Lesson #1


The teacher says, 上手 (jouzu) means "skilled; good," and 下手 (heta) means "not skilled; poor; bad."

Then the teacher says that you need to say:

A が上手です
A ga jouzu desu
good at A
(Literally: "A + が + skilled + is.")

OR

A が下手です
A ga heta desu
bad at A
(Literally: "A + が + unskilled + is.")

日本語が上手です
nihongo ga jouzu desu
He's good at Japanese.
(Literally: "Japanese + が + skilled + is.")
(Note: "He" would be known from context. It's probably not "I," though because that would sound weird/rude/boastful.)

料理が下手です
ryouri ga heta desu.
I'm bad at cooking.
(Literally: "cooking + が + unskilled + is.")
(Note: "I" is OK [depending on context], because it's rarely rude to talk about things you suck at, right? Also, I suck at arts & crafts [<-- not rude... I think].)


The Classic Lesson #2


Then the teacher levels you up and say, now put VERBのが instead of just a noun.

And you start busting out with sentences like:

日本語を話すのが上手です。
nihongo wo hanasu no ga jouzu desu.
He is good at speaking Japanese.
(Literally: "Japanese + を + speak + のが + skilled + is.")

料理をするのが下手です。
ryouri wo suru no ga heta desu.
I am bad at cooking.
(Literally: "cooking + を + do + のが + unskilled + is.")

And that's all good fun (if a little stiff), but let's pack in some super-powered level-ups.


Shark Lesson #1


When you're talking about yourself, never say 上手 (jouzu).

You'll sound like you're bragging... which makes you sound like a tool.

Instead, say 得意 (tokui // "strong point; forte")...

料理が得意です。
ryouri ga tokui desu
I am good at cooking.
(Literally: "cooking + が + strong point + is.")

Or you can remove that が, which adds a bit of casual flavor, then add なんだ to express surprise (or being impressed) that someone else is good at cooking:

料理得意なんだ。
ryouri tokui nan da.
Oh, so you're good at cooking.
(Literally: "cooking + strong point + なん + is.")


Shark Lesson #2


Try dropping the が from のが in conversations.

Not when writing, but when talking, you might want to try dropping that が out of your sentence.

日本語話すの上手だね。
nihongo hanasu no jouzu da ne.
You're good at speaking Japanese.
(Literally: "Japanese + do + の + skilled + is + ね.")

料理するの得意なんだ。
ryouri suru no tokui nan da.
I'm good at cooking.
(Literally: "cooking+ do + の + skilled + なん + is.")

This sounds more like, "I'm good at cooking" in the general way that you might say it in English.

Including が sounds like you're pointing out something you're good at as opposed to other things (because が is the pointer particle and it puts a focus on certain items [which means focusing away from other items, yeah?]).


Shark Lesson #3


Clearly separate 苦手 (nigate) and 下手 (heta)

These two words are almost the same, although 下手 has the connotation of a lower skill level than 苦手. So...

料理するの下手なんだ。
ryouri suru no heta nan da.
I'm bad at cooking.
(Literally: "cooking + do + の + unskilled + なん + is.")

料理するの苦手なんだ。
ryouri suru no nigate nan da.
I'm not good at cooking.
(Literally: "cooking + do + の + weak point + なん + is.")

However!

Only 苦手 can be used with food, in which case it will mean, "I don't really like [food]."

Examples:

辛い食べ物苦手なんだ。
karai tabemono nigate nan da.
I don't really like spicy food.
(Literally: "spicy + food + weak point + なん + is.")

苦手なものある?
nigate na mono aru?
Is there any food you don't like?
(Literally: "weak point + な + thing + have?")


Shark Lesson #4

Just say whatever, dude.

Smash all these words into your brain. Then just wing it.

Yeah, you'll say the wrong one, at the wrong time, in the wrong way.

But the weird stares you get when that happens will burn this stuff into your brain.

For example, when your mother-in-law looks at you like you have a mental condition, you learn to avoid making that happen again...

At least, I hope so...

Complete and Continue